News Briefing: global

Posters target Francis
Opposition to Pope Francis has spilled over into the streets of Rome after a series of posters (above) critical of him appeared around the city at the weekend.

The posters were put up between Friday and Saturday night and show a stern-looking Francis above the slogan: “Where is your mercy?” Written in local Roman dialect, they say the Pope has “removed priests; decapitated the Knights of Malta” and “ignored Cardinals”, which echoes some of the complaints of conservative Catholics. On the day the posters appeared, Francis appointed a special delegate to the Order of Malta following a public spat with the Knights that led to the resignation of its Grand Master, Matthew Festing. A senior Vatican figure, Archbishop Giovanni Becciu, will be the Pope’s sole spokesman with the order in overseeing a “renewal” of the Knights, a move that sidelines leading conservative Cardinal Raymond Burke, who is the order’s patron. Becciu’s job description is to be the Pope’s personal representative to the Knights. It is rare for public opposition to appear against the Bishop of Rome on his doorstep. The city authorities pasted over the posters.
(View from Rome, page 23)

A Catholic bishop in West Africa’s Ivory Coast has revealed that 78 priests have left the country in recent years, apparently to seek security overseas. Bishop Marcellin Yao Kouadio of Yamoussoukro said that some priests had emigrated “to exercise their ministry”, joining the thousands of refugees who have fled the country during years of political instability and conflict. Some, however, simply disappeared, he added. Five years ago, the Vatican’s nuncio to Ivory Coast said Catholic priests were targeted by armed groups during the country’s civil war, which officially ended in 2011.

The new President of Gambia, Adama Barrow, has said that his country’s official name will no longer contain the word “Islamic”, which his predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, added in 2015. The Gambia’s population of 1.9 million is 90 per cent Muslim and 9 per cent Christian. During his first press conference as the new head of state last week, President Barrow said: “The field will be level for everybody”.

Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen of Parramatta (above), Australia’s first Vietnamese-born bishop, says Chinese New Year should not be seen as foreign to the Gospel. “It can be said that the Lunar Festival [this year announcing the year of the rooster] is a summation of ancient wisdom,” he said. “It ceelebrates what it means to be a human being, in relationship with others, and for us Christians also a human being in relationship with God ... The Word of God today reinforces the ancient wisdom embedded in our culture,” Bishop Long added, concluding: “Like the rooster that brings in the promise of a new dawn, may we also be people who bring light and hope to others.”

Food aid appeal
Catholic bishops in Kenya on Tuesday were to appeal for emergency humanitarian food aid to feed millions of people facing starvation due to an ongoing drought. More than 2.4 million people across the country are in need of emergency food aid following the failure of October-December rains, according to Stephen Kituku, the national director of Caritas Kenya. ?

South Africa’s Jesuit Institute has said it is appalled at government actions that led to the deaths of 94 mentally ill patients in Gauteng province during 2016. They died after suffering dehydration, septic bed sores and uncontrolled seizures in unlicensed NGO facilities in Gauteng province. More than 1,300 patients had been transferred to the centres from hospital according to a report earlier this month from South Africa’s health ombudsman. Responding to the investigation, the country’s Jesuit Institute called the event a “gross violation of human rights”. Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, the Institute’s Director, told The Tablet: “It’s exploitation of the vulnerable. It’s a pro-life issue.”

Block on Islam
Slovak MPs have effectively barred Islam from an organised presence in their country by substantially raising the hurdles for churches and religious groups to register. “We have always been proud as a nation of our traditions and values – and tightening the conditions for the entry of new Churches merely protects what we have built over centuries,” Andrej Danko, chairman of the right-wing Slovak National Party, which sponsored the new legislation, said. He made the statement as the Bratislava parliament gave final approval to legal amendments increasing the minimum committed membership requirement for registering religious communities from 20,000 to 50,000.

Slovakia’s Smer daily said the measure, which takes effect in March, would create “insurmountable barriers” to Muslims. They made up 2,000 of the 5.4 million inhabitants in a 2011 census but are now put at 5,000 by Slovakia’s Islamic Foundation.
Slovakia’s predominant Catholic Church has not commented on the curbs.

Kathleen Evans (above), whose cure from cancer was recognised as the miracle that led to the canonisation of Australia’s first saint, Mary MacKillop, in 2010, has died at the age of 73. The New South Wales woman died just before Christmas after being diagnosed with lung cancer last year, which doctors said was unrelated to the lung and brain cancer from which she recovered in 1993. That cure was attributed to the inter­cession of the saint. In the February issue of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle’s Aurora magazine, Mrs Evans’ son Luke wrote: “So many questions spring out at me. Firstly, does this somehow negate her ‘miracle’? To me, the answer is simply ‘No’; 23 years ago, my mother was given six weeks to live. Something incredible happened , whatever it was.”

Rebels free ex-congressman
A former congressman from Colombia’s Pacific province of Chocó, Odín Sánchez, was released on 2 February by National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, after being held captive for 10 months. Sánchez’s release was one of the conditions for peace talks to begin between the Government and the ELN. The negotiations, which the Catholic Church will facilitate, were to begin on 7 February in Quito, Ecuador.